Catch of a Lifetime (31 page)

   Ceto was not happy. She motioned for the makos to surround Logan and Michael. "Instead of going outside, Michael, why don't you take your father to play pearls? I'm sure he'd love to see your room, and I'd like a little time to speak with Angel." Ceto sang the
suggestion
, her eyes on Logan, as her hair undulated like over-sexed eels around her shoulders and her tails rippled red and orange like flowing magma from the tips of her flukes to her hips. Subtlety was not Ceto's strong suit as she tried to ensnare Logan with her Siren Song.

   Good luck with that.

   Logan took a step toward her and took a breath. "Ange—"

   "Logan, take care of Michael." Angel couldn't let Logan speak or Ceto would know her enchantment didn't work because Angel had gotten to him first. Who knew that the birthday-song debacle would end up saving him? Humans could be enchanted by only one Mer.

   "And, Ceto, I wouldn't get rid of all your guards if I were you."

   Ceto smirked. "But you aren't me, are you, Angel?"

   "No, thank the gods. I'm Angel Tritone, daughter of the previous High Councilman and sister of the current one. I know exactly who I am. The question is, do you?"

   Not that Rod would want her using his position to fix her screw-up, especially since she'd disobeyed di rect orders, but one sure thing about her brother was his loyalty. As far as Ceto knew, a High Council contingent could arrive at any moment, which would put a kink in whatever she thought she was going to do.

   Thank the gods, The Council, and everyone else who'd so put the fear of the gods into Ceto, the sea monster called back three of the sharks, leaving Brutus, the biggest, to guard Logan and Michael. Still not ideal, but it did give Logan a fighting chance.

   And she meant that literally.

   "I know who you are, too, Angel! You're my bestest friend and you're a mermaid!" Michael laughed be fore turning to Logan and reaching for his hand. "See, Logan? I told you they were real. And I bet Santa Claus is, too. But not the Easter Bunny. Somebody would catch a giant rabbit and make him a pet if he was. But I wouldn't. I didn't even try to catch Stewart, 'cause Angel said it wouldn't be nice to be in a cage, and he's kinda weird anyway."

   Brutus snorted and herded them toward the corridor on the left, directly opposite from where she and Logan had entered. Not where Angel preferred, but as long as they were moving away from Ceto, they had a chance.

   "You wanna see the oysters, Logan?" Michael kept up his chatter. Gods, she'd miss that. "They're ugly, but they have really pretty pearls inside them. I even found a black one, but Ceto said that that one was too little to play with. I want to find a pink one."

   As they reached the corner, Brutus too close behind them for Angel's liking, she heard Michael say, "I want to give it to Angel, 'cause she's a girl and girls like pink. 'Cept Rainbow doesn't. She likes blue, but I don't think they make blue pearls. What's your favor ite color, Logan? I like red the best, then blue. We had lots of blue stuff…"

   Logan glanced at her as they turned the corner, but Angel pretended to misinterpret his don't do anythin
g
foolish
look. She'd do whatever it took to make sure they got out alive.

   "He's not going to leave here." Ceto's voice was right behind her.

   Fluttering just the tips of her flukes, Angel turned slowly.

   Ceto floated forward in all her evil glory, her twin tails pulsing that hideous red she was so fond of, her malachite curls backlit by the hatchetfish lights like some Hades-inspired crown."You shouldn't have come."

   Angel crossed her arms, shaking with anger, but she knew Ceto would think it was fear. "You didn't leave me a choice."

   Ceto slid a stray curl away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You don't need this one, Angel. You're more than capable of producing a brood of your own. Something, in case you've forgotten, that I am not per mitted to do."

"Ceto, I understand your pain, but—"

   Ceto's tails flared like a flash of fire, then went black. The remaining makos scattered out the archways at the far side of the chamber. Angel didn't blame them.

   "No one understands." Ceto advanced on her. "Not you, with your youth and your beauty and your virile, handsome Human. Not even your brother. I would have expected him to get it since his wife has begun spawning their own. Those old cronies I'd hoped Rod would have had the good sense to replace on The Council don't understand either. They never did. No one understands."

   Actually, Angel
did
understand. But Ceto's losses didn't justify her actions. And they certainly shouldn't enable Angel to feel any softening toward the sea mon ster. There was no softness in Ceto. Not when it came to what she wanted.

   "Ceto, let him go. Let them both go. They aren't yours, and they don't belong here. They need to be back in their world."

   Ceto's hair flared out as if an electric eel had slammed into her, the curls almost straightening in her anger, then recoiling like a spring. The fairy basslet dance troupe dispersed as quickly as the makos had, leaving her and Ceto alone in the giant theater where the sea monster's words rang off every stone surface.

   "
Belong
? You're one to talk. You were on
land
with them, Angel. Tried to pass as one. I'm supposed to back off from something that's my right while you upset ev eryone else's natural order by communing with them? I don't think so, little girl. I've had it with the half-assed generosity of The Council. Joey Camparo is no prize, let me tell you. I want a child, and since they've refused to allow me my own, I'm taking Michael."

   "Take me."

   "What?" Ceto's curls stopped mid-bounce.

   "Take me instead."

   "An interesting offer, Tritone, but you're hardly child material any more. If you'd made that offer twenty-five
selinos ago, we might have had somethin
g to talk about."

   "No, Ceto. I don't mean as your child." Angel straightened her back and took a deep gulp. "Take me as your hostage."

LOGAN ROUNDED THE CORNER INTO A WINDOWLESS CORRIDOR lined with the broken remnants of a dead coral colony on one wall, and cooled, pitted lava on the other. He was almost out of earshot when he heard Angel's offer.

   Hostage.

   Angel was offering herself as Ceto's hostage in return for Michael.

   He didn't know whether to rush in and save her or hightail it out of there—until Michael's question gave him the answer.

   "Why isn't Angel with us, Logan? She's coming, right?"

   Logan's heart squeezed, both at the hopeful expres sion on his son's face and the knowledge that Angel was
not
coming with them.

   Hadn't been planning to, obviously.

   Logan couldn't let her sacrifice be in vain. He had to get Michael out of here.

   "She'll be along when"—if—"she can, Michael," he whispered, urging his son toward a light at the far end of the corridor, trying to block out the generosity and unselfishness of Angel's act and focus on thwarting their shark guard and the bitch who'd put them in this spot to begin with.

   He couldn't throw away this chance Angel had given him. A parent was supposed to protect his child. The child's welfare came first—a fact Christine hadn't real ized, but one Angel instinctively had.

   She was trading her freedom for his son's life. Of all the selfless things to do… She'd knowingly put herself in Ceto's power to give them the opportunity to escape.

   He tried to remember why he'd been bothered that she was a mermaid. Hell, the kid's own mother hadn't been that unselfish and she was human. No, Christine had dumped Michael when the going got too tough, but Angel…

   He was a fool. He never should have told her to leave last night. He should have seen beyond her tail to the person she was. To the good-hearted, loving, giving woman residing in that body—tailed or otherwise.

   He'd get Michael out, then find some way to help her.

   "Okay. I guess." Michael tipped the rim of his base ball cap lower on his face and dragged his hands along the rough lava wall. "When's that gonna be?"

   "I don't know."

   "Let's move it along, Humans." The shark's breath preceded his words and Logan didn't want to focus on what could cause such a stench.

   The daylight got brighter. Somehow they'd have to make a run for it. Logan surreptitiously checked the cor ridor behind him—and saw four hundred pounds of fish filling the darkness there. They obviously weren't going back that way. Their only chance was through whatever was up ahead.

   Logan looked forward. Plant life grew along the wall, which meant direct sunlight. Conceivably then, they had a straight shot to the surface, but what awaited them in between?

   They had to get away from the mako and, preferably, without witnesses. Logan wasn't exactly looking for ward to hand-to-fin combat with the big fish, let alone with any of the guy's buddies.

   He slid his hand into his pocket and grasped the edge of the knife, his thumb straying to the blade-release mechanism. The knife wasn't that big, but still, a well placed blade could bring down a shark.

   It could also put his arm in bite range. And Michael in harm's way. But makos were some of the fastest swim mers in the shark world; he didn't have much choice if they had to make a run—swim—for it. He'd rather any confrontation be on his terms.

   Something swam by outside, passing through the daylight, casting its shadow onto the wall. He had to act before any other sharks showed up.

   Logan squeezed Michael's shoulder to get him to stop, needing the least traumatic way to do this for his son—and the deadliest for the shark.

   "Get moving,
friend
." The shark butted Logan in the back with his bullet-shaped snout.

   That was the opening Logan was looking for.

   He pretended to stumble and shoved Michael away with one hand while whipping the knife out with the other, engaging the blade, and spinning around to shove it between the mako's eyes in one maneuver.

   Someone Upstairs was looking out for him because the shark's eyes glazed over without him uttering a sound. The embedded knife effectively stopped any bleeding, so they were home free on alerting the entire Caribbean, and the water carried the dead fish gently onto the corridor floor where it looked like ol' Brutus had decided to take a nap.

   The fact that he was belly-up against the wall wouldn't necessarily be a good detail to point out to a six-year-old.

   "Hey, Logan." Michael did a somersault into a hand stand before righting himself. "Didya see my handstand? Were my legs straight? Angel said I was real good at handstands. What do you think—hey. What happened to Brutus?"

   "He, uh… He decided to take a nap." Logan swam over to Michael and swept his arm around his shoulders, turning his son around so they were facing the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

   Mission accomplished. Now they had to escape those tower guards Angel had mentioned.

   Another shadow flickered on the wall.

   This time, Logan recognized the shape.

   Lifting Michael, Logan pushed off the lava wall and swam to the arched window. One side of it was wide enough for him to squeeze through.

   He hoped.

   He looked outside to make sure that shadow wasn't a trick.

   "Hey, cool! Dolphins!" Michael waved. "I like dol phins better than sharks. They smile."

   And, more importantly, they were on their side.

   Logan took one last look down the corridor. Past the dead Brutus and into the inky darkness. Angel was back there. With at least three other makos and a sea monster who'd once been a goddess.

   He had to save his son. That's what Angel wanted.

   "How about we go meet them, Michael?" Tucking Michael's hat in his pocket, he grabbed a piece of broken coral and smashed the window, then cleared the debris as best he could and helped Michael through, garnering several nasty cuts when it was his turn. But they were free. In a manner of speaking.

   Judging the distance between the towers and the dol phins, Logan kept an eye out for the tower guards. He and Michael should be able to make it…

   "Yo, dolphins!" Michael, who had no idea of their predicament, waved so hard he floated off the wall, only to start swimming toward the mammals.

   Logan didn't have long to wait before the first bull shark wiggled through the window on the southern most tower.

   Shit.

   Logan shoved off the wall, scooping Michael in his arms, and kicked his legs for all he was worth.

   He looked back. The bull shark was closing in.

   Then another one swam over the top of the building.

   They weren't going to make it—

   The dolphins dove down in formation, one taking Michael on its back, two others lodging beneath Logan's arms, and carried them off, the speed in their powerful tails putting much-needed distance between them and the sharks.

   Miles later, sides heaving, the dolphins circled to gether. "Where's the princess?" the captain asked.

   "Still there." Logan kept his voice low, not wanting Michael to understand the seriousness of their situation.

   "You
left
her?"

   He tossed Michael his hat, then steered the captain away. "She gave herself up as a hostage so we could escape. I couldn't risk my son."

"Your son's safe now."